The results of the general elections held last Sunday left a scenario in which Junts is key to an eventual investiture of Pedro Sánchez a few weeks after the PSC seized the mayoralty of Barcelona with the votes of the ECP and the PP. The mayor’s office could be a bargaining chip during the negotiations between Junts and the PSOE, but Xavier Trias, Junts’ candidate for Barcelona City Council, has ruled out this option.

In an interview with RAC1, Trias has assured that “things should not be mixed up” and has defined the possibility as “strange political musings that lead nowhere”.

The former mayor of Barcelona has defended that the negotiations with Sánchez for the investiture are “serious”, and that despite the fact that “from the outset, saying that we never have to do it”, his support “depends on the conditions”. Trias has asked the PSOE to think “what it offers to make four profitable years for Catalonia”, and challenges Sánchez to make an approach “knowing the conditions” of Junts. “They have to ask us for help that requires certain conditions and ways of acting,” he added.

Trias has also assessed the situation of the Barcelona mayor’s office, which he defines as “an illogical thing”. According to the Junts candidate, Collboní “has deceived the voters”, and now he must decide if during the legislature he wants the support “of Colau or Trias”.

The former president of the Generalitat, Artur Mas, also assessed yesterday on Onda Cero the position of his party regarding a possible investiture of Sánchez. Mas asked ERC and Junts for “a minimum of a joint strategy” despite assuring that he “is not very confident” that it will happen.

The former president recommended to the Catalan party “not to be in a hurry” since Sánchez must first speak with the parties that were already part of the coalition government during the last legislature. “First you have to see what the price is and the consequences of all these pacts,” Mas said.

The former president acknowledged that the independence movement “did not get a good grade” in the general elections last Sunday, but assured that the Catalan parties now have “the paella for the handle” to decide the investiture of Sánchez. But he does not recommend an electoral repetition but sees it as “the most likely scenario”, since without the support of Junts, Pedro Sánchez will not be able to revalidate a coalition government.

In the same line of pro-independence unity, Laura Borràs, president of Junts, has asked to “join forces” to achieve her goal. The electoral results of 23-J do not allow Junts or ERC to form their own parliamentary group (a minimum of 15 deputies are needed), for which reason Borràs has demanded that Junts create “an independentist group in Congress” to “act together”

Regarding the negotiations with the Socialist Party, the former president of Parliament has marked amnesty and the self-determination referendum as conditions for her support for Sánchez. “We have come to achieve everything”, added Borràs, who wanted to transfer the pressure to Sánchez: “he has the obligation to explore all avenues”.